How to Kill Your Neighbor
by Tommehbell
Summary: District 13 wasn't destroyed during the Dark Days. Everyone knows that now. The Quater Quell games are the punishment special for district 13. It happens every four years. The Capital forces them to send in send 24 children into the arena. Nile Ferris' name was drawn. Will she survive to see her 13th birthday?
1. My Reaping

I didn't know if it was morning or still night. We lived underground in District 13, so it was hard to tell the time changes. But I was awake and I couldn't sleep.

The Reaping was today, and my name was going in for the first time. It was also my birthday. I was 12 years old today, but there wasn't anything special nor celebratory about it. I sighed and rolled over trying to go back to sleep. It was going to be stressful enough without me looking like a puffy chocolate marshmallow.

I heard a knock on my door, but I didn't turn around.

"Nile are you awake?" My brother popped his head into my room and I rolled back over to face the door. He walked into my room and sat down at the end my bed. "Nervous?" his hand reached up and padded my leg gently.

"Just a little." I sat up. I was already wearing my Reaping outfit. A grey tunic and grey leggings. Everything in district 13 was grey. I figured it could bring me some good luck. Well it couldn't hurt.

He nodded and stared off into space. "This is my last year." My brother was turning 18 in two months. His worrying days were over. Well for himself anyways. There were 5 more of us who had the potential to be thrown to the lions in the Quarter Quell. He was the first one in the family to age out. We had planned a little party for him after the reaping. Though there were two of us now going into the pot. Me and my sister Timber who was 14.

"You'll be fine." I bumped shoulders with him. He smiled down at me. "Hey I thought you were supposed to be cheering me up." At least I hope that's what was supposed to happen.

The alarm tolled before he could answer and the lights popped on. I blinked back against the brightness of the lights.

It was time to get up and get ready. My sister River was still sleep and I hated to wake her up. She always looked so peaceful when her eyes were closed. As if she didn't have a care in the world. Which she didn't really. Being five all she had to do was eat, go to her lessons and run around the playroom all day. It was the life I wanted to get back. But I had to wake her up, it was a harsh punishment for missing the Reaping. Though she was only five she would still be punished.

I climbed off my bed. My legs felt like jelly. I had to lean against the wall till I felt like I could walk without falling over, but I made myself walk over to my sister's bunk to shake her gently awake.

Her hair was sticking up all over her head, but she had the face of an angel. "River" I shook her shoulder and she opened a blurry eye to blink at me. "Its time to go. Come on." She tired to go back to sleep.

Finally I had to pick her up and carry her into the bathroom for a quick bath. She was a big baby when you got down to it. I guess I spoiled her. Trying to make up for her never meeting our mom I guess. Our mom died giving birth to River. It had been a joyously sad day. We splashed and laughed in the bathroom. River loved my water monsters. It was easy to lose myself in the little game. It kept my heart from pounding right through my rib cage. I dried her off and gave her slicked up pigtails on the side of her head that ended in little afro puffs.

We didn't bother stepping up to the scanner to get our daily schedules. There was only one thing to do today. Go to the Reaping and afterwards there would be something like a wake for the tributes.

None of them ever came home.

Well there was always a Victor, but they were kept in the Capitol after winning. The Quarter Quell was a special Hunger Games just for the people of District 13. Since we instigated the rebellion and caused the Dark Days we were punished more than the other districts. Oh what a joy to be us.

The Hunger Games happened every single year. You could set your clock by it in fact. Our calendars revolved around it. Each district had to one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18. But the Quarter Quell was a special game that happened every four years that only district 13 participated in.

They still wanted their 24 tributes though. The numbers didn't change. 12 girls and 12 boys were sent into the Games. We still had to send one boy and one girl into the yearly Hunger Games though. It was brutal for us. You would think out population would be small. People were scared to have children, but that wasn't an option for us. The Capitol thought of that as well. Every woman over the age of 18 had to take hormone shots every month to ensure she had babies, and every woman had to have at least five babies over the span of her lifetime. They said that like anyone was going to have more than that. We had to have 100 newborns every year.

We were so lucky to be District 13.

Ohio made sure we were all dressed and ready to go. He had been our mom and dad since our mother had died from radiation poisoning when I was 5. Thesson had just been born nine months before our mom died to the day that River was born. For some reason our mom had six kids. She said she never regretted having any of us. Thinking about her today made my heart squeeze tightly.

When he was sure we were ready to go he nodded and we were off to the cafeteria.

The atmosphere in the halls and on the elevator was subdued. No one talked and none of the kids participated in idle chatter. I wasn't sure why I was paying this much attention. I never had before. Well I guess since my name was being thrown into my mix my brain wanted to record all the details.

I saw my friend Canary. She waved at me when we finally stepped off the elevator into the cafeteria. Her 12th birthday wasn't for another 4 months. She had another year before she went into the drawing. Her mother held her back from running over to me to talk. It made my eyes sting. I could have used the pep talk or at least a little hug. We had been best friends since the playroom. Friendships after the age of 12 were hard to maintain. You just never knew when their name was going to be called.

I managed to send a small smile her way before moving into the line to grab some breakfast. I was sure when the Reaping started I was going to throw up anything I had eaten but I was hungry. We were on a strict schedule around here and having dinner at 6pm last night always left me starving by the time breakfast rolled around.

All the Reaping eligible kids were given an extra potion of either rice of bread. I opted for the rice today. Eggs and rice. That was a protein and a carb. So I could bulk up and beef out. That thought made me giggle. I was twelve but I was the size of a seven year old. In fact my seven year old brother Thesson was taller than me. I was tempted to go sit next to Canary, but today of all days was not a day to defy the rules. Peacekeepers were out in force and it was frowned upon to sit in another sector's dining section on the best of days. Today I would get beaten and they would have propped up with poles for the Reaping if they had to.

I sat next to my sister Timber. Timber was always the overly serious one in our family, but today you would have been hard pressed to find her pulse. I patted her hand and she looked down at me. A slight tug at the corner of her mouth was all she gave me.

For Timber that was the equivalent to her turning a backflip on top of the table during the announcements.

I ate quickly. I needed to do something to keep busy. If I stayed still too long I would get nervous and if I got nervous I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I knew it wouldn't be pretty.

My belly felt full and I felt like a whale. Though I never gained an ounce. I was blessed with a tiny frame with a promise of a curvacious body as one of my brother's former friends had said. Ohio punched him in the face for that comment. They weren't friends anymore.

The bell tolled.

On cue everyone stood and emptied their trash. I grabbed Thesson and Merlin's hand to keep a hold of them. I knew it was for my moral support, but I told them Ohio told me to look after them. They hated their sister babying them and looking after them. They patterned themselves real men now. It was cute. I hoped I would live to see them grow up. Timber and River were holding onto each other for support. Ohio was leading our clan.

The Reaping happened in the Great Hall which was on the 4th level. It was the closest to ground level I had ever been. My sister Timber was a scavenger so she got to go outside every day. I loved hearing her stories of what the outside looked like. I hadn't been assigned a job yet. If my name wasn't called I would get a job tomorrow.

You could land a helicopter in our Great Hall. The ceiling soared high above our heads and our shuffles bounced off the walls and sounded hollow in my ears.

The stage had been erected at the far end of the Great Hall from the elevator doors. The spotlights were giving off tremendous heat as we approached. They bathed the single microphone that stood alone in the middle. Ivy Boxer was twittering around the stage in all her Capitol glory.

Ivy Boxer was the strangest person I had ever seen in my life. Not that I had a lot of experience with Capitol people but I was sure she had to be the weirdest. She was brown skinned like me, but Ivy had tiny gold whiskers sprouting from the sides of her nose like a cat. When she scrunched up her nose she really did look like a cat. She hard large golden cat eyes that dipped toward her nose and fur covered ears that ended in points.

She was forever tucking stray strands of her fly away hair behind them. It would have been a cute gesture on anyone else. On Ivy it was disconcerting.

Today she was decked out in a bright green dress that glittered under the spotlight. It was very tight and I was sure on any other day it would have left nothing to the imagination for the mass of hormonal boys that were in attendance, but today it was vein move. No one was looking at her shapely hips with longing or lust. If given the chance I was sure some of the boys would happily strangle her in that lovely dress.

I blinked away the image of her dress to take in the rest of her. It was a wonder she walk in the shoes on her feet. The heels were almost a foot off the ground. And I know I was close enough to the ground to almost see clear up her dress. Which made me blush and fix my eyes on a point above her head.

Once we were all assembled she stepped to the mike. "Welcome to the 18th Quarter Quell Games. May the odds be forever in your favor." She threw her arms out in a fanfare that we didn't return. She did this every single year like we were going to jump out and shout. The woman was pounds of uranium short of a full load. Her cat eyes searched all of our faces. None of us were showing any emotions. It made for bad TV we knew, but what did that expect from us? We were going to our death's. Were we supposed to turn cartwheels for the audience?

I'm not why I did it, but I gave her a little wink and she winked back. Maybe she wasn't totally crazy. We stood and turned to watch the opening video. They showed it every single year, but for the quarter Quell it was always special. It showed how wicked we were to rebel. The devastation that the capital heaped upon us. It showed the world that we had threatened to set of nuclear bombs around the country killing people in other districts. They never painted a pretty picture for us.

After the video Ivy turned back to look at us. The cameras were rolling through our ranks getting our reactions to the video. There weren't any reactions to be had. We had made peace with our public image. "How about this year we start with the boys." She looked to the audience for approval. There wasn't one. It was only us.

You could have heard a cat fart. Ivy walked over to the Reaping Ball. Everyone sucked in a breath. She pulled out a piece of paper and walked back over to the mike to read the name. The vein in my brother's forehead was throbbing something terrible as he waited for her to read the first name. "Seven Brown." I could see a single drop of sweat escape his hairline.

Everyone stepped away from Seven as he started crying. He was 15, but he worked in the kitchens and he was a bit on the soft side. Not just in temperament but in physique. He was round in all the wrong places, and the boy was always crying over a little cut or burn.

I didn't like his odds of making it past the first few seconds after the start of the games. The Peacekeepers grabbed a hold of him. He struggled, but not for long. They took him away amidst his mother's wails. She worked in the gardens with my brother.

It was gut wrenching and he was only the first. Two other boys disslved into tears before being dragged away to their dooms.

Ohio stood ramrod straight. His eyes never strayed from the stage as all the boys were called. He wasn't called. He practically melted to the floor. Him and the other boys aging out of the games almost danced a jig. I smiled up at him. Glad that my brother was going to have a future. Well as much of a future as we could have in this world, but at least it was there. We might have been punished more than the other districts but our lives were nearly as bad as theirs. Some of their kids looked starved half to death. As if they had been surviving on nothing but air and good intentions. We might not be feasting everyday but we got 3 solid meals and enough to at least grow on.

Ivy pulled me out of my daydream. "Now for the girls," She announced. Timber reached over to grab my hand. I winced at the pressure but I didn't let go. I wanted the support. I didn't want to admit to anyone how scared I was. It wasn't necessary everyone else was just as scared, but somehow admitting it out loud made it more real.

Ivy for all the way through the Reaping and she didn't call Timber's name. There was only one more slip to be pulled. One more girl to go into the games and fight her friends and neighbors to the death. Timber started to bounce. I followed suit. We had both been pretty lucky. One more name. Then we could breath a little till next year.

"The last tribute for the quarter Quell games is." She unfurled the slip, reading the name slowly. I saw the words forming on her lips but I didn't think she was going to say it. "Nile Ferris." My heart stopped.

Timber froze in mid bounce.

Ohio's little jig stopped in mid kick.

She had called my name. The witch had called my name.

I was going into the Games.


	2. Choo Choo to my Death

I could feel Timber squeezing my hand. My arm was starting to go numb. She was cutting off my circulation.

Malee had called my name.

My name.

The circle around me and my sister widened as people stepped out of the way of the Peacekeepers as they came for me. They were coming for me. It was my birthday today. I wasn't supposed to be sent to my death on my birthday.

I looked up at my sister wondering if she was going to volunteer for me. The way she was holding my hand I wasn't sure she as going to let go. "Timber," I whispered looking up at her. I glanced around at the blank faces. There wasn't any shock to be had.

Ohio's eyes were filling up with tears. I knew he would volunteer for me if he could. I reached out of him as the Peacekeeper laid a hand on my shoulder. Timber dropped my hand as she turned away from me.

I felt like someone had socked me in the stomach.

She wasn't going to take my place. A tiny part of me could understand, but the rest of me wanted to kick her in the face. My sister was going to let me go into the games. I was only 12! She was faster, bigger, stronger than me. She could out run a coyote. Timber was going to let me go into the games.

I would have taken her place if she were my little sister. I would have taken River's place.

The Peacekeeper started to stir me into one of the side rooms when Ohio pushed his way over to my side. "Ohio," I squeaked. The tears tumbled down my face. He hadn't been this upset when our mom had died. Another Peacekeeper jabbed him in the ribs with a baton and he dropped to the floor. "Don't hurt him." I pushed at them both. "Leave him alone!" I shouted.

One of them scooped me up like a sack of rice. I pounded my little fists against his back. I might as well have blown air in his face for all the good that it did.

He carried me out of the Great Hall as the tears ran down my face.

I had never wanted to be one of those kids that made a scene. They were always picked off first because they never could wrap their minds around getting drawn. That's how I felt watching the Reapings. Safe in my little world of not being eligible.

Now I was going into the games. The peacekeeper dropped me on the floor. I crumpled like rotting concrete. The rest of the tributes turned to look at me. These were the faces of the kids I would have to kill to be the victor.

Friends.

People I knew. People who were going to try to kill me if I couldn't manage to kill them first. I hiccuped and wiped my nose on my sleeve. I could see the cold calculation in some of their eyes. They were already counting me out of the games. They wouldn't hesitate to kill me. Given the chance.

I wanted to keep crying and laying on the floor, but they were looking at me like the dinner bell had just rung and Nile was on the menu. I remembered what my brother always yelled at the screen during the games.

Show no fear.

They always go after the weak ones first. I wiped my face and stood. I let the emotion drain from my face. I certainly wasn't ready to be a killer, but I hardened my face and they turned away.

Malee practically prowled into the room. "Well tributes the Capitol train waits for no man. Pip, pip." Her smile was starting to burn my retinas. She ushered us over to the elevator set against a far wall that I hadn't noticed when I had been dumped into the room.

Of course I had never been in here. This was the "landing" stage for tributes. It was just like any other room in District 13. White, clean, sterile.

We lived underground, we didn't have to live like animals. That was the mantra we learned during our lessons.

I bumped into the girl in front of me and she shoved me back with her elbow. It nearly caught me in the eye she was that much taller than me.

I blinked up to see who it was. It was Kiwi. Her sister had been in my math lesson. "We don't know each other anymore." she snarled at me before I could apologize for running into her.

I took a step back from her to let her get on with her business. I didn't expect everything to happen so quickly. I shouldn't have been surprised. This was the way of the world. We all filed onto the elevator and rode up in silence. We reached the surface. I had never been to the surface before. I wasn't sure what to expect. We stepped off onto a billowing platform. The wind was kicking up dust and broken twigs. Several people had to duck or risk getting skewered. The glossy Capital train was waiting for us as we trudged up the path.

This was the last time I was going to see my home, but no one else had turned back to look at it. They were already preparing themselves for what was to come. If I did anything different I might as well jump into the electrified fence and get it over with. I glanced to my right and saw the Peacekeeper eyeing me like he knew what I had been thinking.

I checked myself and kept moving ahead. The train was a glossy silver and about 10 cars deep. I wondered why it was so big. "Let's go children. The Capital waits for no tribute," Malee called from the front of the line. We were hurried onto the train where Malee was directing us to our rooms.

I went left down a short hall to the door marked with my name. I took a peek into the room and the opulence stunned me. I had learned that word last week in my lessons. I thought it was a good time to uncork it and use it. It was a good description for the room I had ben assigned. I looked down the hall and saw that everyone else was going into their room so I ducked into mine.

It was the size of our room assigned to me and my family. We had to move out of the room when our mom died. Though we were only down one family member. Something about Ohio not being old enough for the apartment we had. I didn't understand all of it, but we made it work anyhow. But this room on the train but that room to shame. My whole family could have fit into the room with space to spare. A small desk was set into the corner just inside the door. I couldn't imagine what I would need a desk for. It wasn't like the Capital delivered our mail for us. One door led to a small bathroom and another door opened into a small closet with a few hangers dangling around.

The biggest bed I had ever seen was set under a picture window that gave me a front row seat to the entire world. I didn't even know the train was moving till I saw the trees whipping past. The bedding was was fluffy and white. The carpet was soft to walk on and gold dominated everything. In the mountain of pillows on the bed to the etching around the mirror. I didn't have a single doubt that it was real gold either.

I sat down on the bed and nearly sank down into the floor it was so soft and fluffy. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do now. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream and rage and pass out till this was all over and done with, but I couldn't work myself up to do any of those.

Since there was nothing really to do I peeked out into the hallway to see if anyone else was as restless as me. Everyone was moving down toward the front of the train. A few people ducked past me. I stepped out into the hallway and followed my fellow tributes.

Ivy was waiting for us in what I presumed was the dining car. The fact that the place was stuffed with all manner of food did give it away. We were just standing there looking at the food. It wasn't like we had been starved but rationing in district 13 was serious business. You could be whipped and thrown in solitary confinement for up to a week for hoarding food or eating more than you were given. So to see more food than any of us could imagine eating just sitting there waiting for us to devour it was a sight to behold. I didn't think any of us knew what do to.

"Well its not going to eat itself," Ivy chimed as she sat down at one of the tables to eat a delicate sandwich. We all moved as one toward the tower of food. I wasn't all that hungry. I had eaten two helpings of rice at breakfast. If I tried to eat anything else I was sure I would puke myself stupid in a few hours. Ivy stated up a steady stream of conversation as soon as we al sat down. No one was talking, but Ivy was trying her best to engage us.

Did she really think we wanted to chitchat about the weather while thinking about snapping one of our friends neck in a few weeks? Or did she simply not care? Maybe that was it. She wasn't the one that was going into the games. Her only job was to delivery us unharmed to the capital. Well to act like a press secretary or something.

After the Kiwi incident I wasn't inclined to talk to anyone. It seemed safer that way. Plus I wasn't sure what the appropriate topic of conversation would be. 'Oh hey Apple, do you think a switchblade of a machete is a better weapon to avoid hand to hand combat?' Didn't seem like a great ice breaker. Various TVs were on not that I was really paying attention. They were replaying the reaping. I saw myself as Ivy called my name. I was surprised at the pure look of hatred that flicked across my face for a second.

"Whoa there tiger save it for the arena," one of the commentators chuckled. My ears twitched as I turned around to pay attention to the broadcast.

"Nile Ferris looks like she is ready to kill someone." The other commenter said.

"The Little Lion seems ready to enter the arena alright. Her odds are 3 to 1 for surviving. That's the highest odds we've seen for the quarter Quell games." I knew my jaw had dropped, but I couldn't help myself. They were giving me 3 to 1 offs of winning. And what was this little lion crap? Was that a joke about my hair. Looking at the still they were showing of me my hair did look a littler poofier than normal, but I hadn't really been thinking about my hair and make up right before the reaping. Plus Timber had been a total wreck last night and hadn't been able to braid my hair down. So I did sort of look like a q-tip, but they still didn't have to call me a lion. I folded my arms across my chest and watched the rest of the show.

None of the other tributes put up the odds that I did. That made me a little happy that someone saw the potential. A few of them turned to look at me. They had murder in their eyes. I shrank back into my chair. Oh great, now I had a huge target painted on my face.

I grabbed a something that I hoped was bread and shoved it into my mouth just to give myself something to do. Other than try to bore a hole into my competition. I sat in my chair chewing on that piece of bread for I don't know how long. The sun had set and everyone had wandered back to their room. Ivy had declared it a great day for the Capital before retiring to her room.

I sat in the dining room alone not wanting to go back to my room. I didn't want to be alone, but sitting at the table with stale bread in my mouth I was alone. I set the bread down and went back to my room. There wasn't anything else for me to do. I climbed into the bed and laid down. I wasn't intending to go to sleep. I had too many emotions rattling around in my head to get any sleep, but when I woke up the sun slapping me in the face. I blinked myself awake and sat up in the bed. It was the first time I had seen the sunrise. I was struck dumb as I propped myself up on my stomach to watch the passing scenery and watch the sun fully rise.

There was a knock on my door. "Rise and shine Nile. We will be arriving at the Capital soon. Wash up and get some breakfast. You have a long day ahead of you," Came the cheerful sing-song voice of Ivy through my door.

Oh great I almost forgot I'm about to be thrown into the Lion's den to kill my neighbors.


End file.
